Werder Bremen vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Game

Borussia Dortmund were once again left short of luck or fortune in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon when Werder Bremen welcomed Jurgen Klopp's side to the Weserstadion and duly overcame them by two goals to one. 

Dortmund will finish 2014 in the bottom spot of the Bundesliga table if Freiburg beat Hannover on Sunday.

Far from the side who once battled and beat the best in Europe as they marched towards consecutive German championships, the former "Bayern-hunters" now look destined for another six months of fighting for their top-flight status.  

At full-time, Bremen manager Viktor Skrypnyk and his team erupted into applause, running on to the pitch and celebrating as if they had just won the title itself. Such a win was never supposed to be on the cards, yet here we where. The green and whites had just beaten the black and yellows and leapfrogged them at the bottom of the table. 

Here's the winners and losers from the match. 

In what seems like a weekly occurrence at Dortmund these days, Sebastian Kehl was once again in the starting lineup for Klopp's side. Inevitably, he failed to match the pace of the game, which contributed to his side's demise.

The senior midfielder will still undoubtedly play a large part in the squad's morale in training and in the dressing room before and after games, yet Kehl has long lost much of his use on the football pitch. 

It's time Klopp dropped his former captain and old friend and allowed his squad to move on and up the Bundesliga table. 

Much has been made of Dortmund's failure to sort things out in front of goal, yet on Saturday it was the defence and the men tasked with defending their own goalmouth that failed to match up to the best that Bremen could throw at them. 

Matthias Ginter came into the side following Neven Subotic's disciplinary ban and duly struggled to handle the pace of the game. He started alongside Mats Hummels, who himself often looked troubled and far from his best on the day. 

Dortmund need Hummels at this best, and only then can they begin to think about moving back up the league table. If he's going to continue putting in performances like that, there's little hope of any progress this season. 

Bremen looked well-disciplined, determined and ultimately fierce in defence and attack, yet no player characterised their passion in Saturday's game quite like young prodigy Davie Selke. 

Opening the scoring in the third minute, the German U19 star managed to pull away from Hummels before curling a truly beautiful effort past Mitch Langerak in goal. The home side were in front and Dortmund had just been made aware of the talent they were up against that day. 

The goal itself was Selke's third in his last five games in the Bundesliga, yet the forward offered so much more throughout the match. Running at defenders, picking out passes and winning every header in the air, Selke proved his worth yet again when he glided down the right wing to whip in a cross for Fin Bartels' goal in the 62nd minute. 

Bremen had doubled their lead and were on course to victory thanks to the efforts of this truly wonderful talent. 

Although Shinji Kagawa was only on the pitch for 45 minutes on Saturday and looked brighter than most in his movement and passing of the ball, the Japanese international will unfortunately have nothing to look back on from this game except the two glaring opportunities he had to win the match for his side. 

Coming on for Kehl, Kagawa moved up front to play off Ciro Immobile and found himself in two wonderful positions to score—with a header in the 55th minute directly in front of goal and then a shot, again, right in front of the Bremen goal in the 77th minute.

Both sailed high and wide and summed up another frustrating day for Dortmund. Absolutely nothing was going their way. 

With their win over Dortmund on Saturday, Bremen have now won three of their last four home games in the Bundesliga and can certainly begin to confirm suggestions the Weserstadion has became something of a stronghold in the league this season. 

Under Skrypnyk, the club have only lost two games—to Schalke and Koln—at home this season and will certainly take confidence from such a run of results.

Bremen look good in front of their own fans, and that may well be enough to save them from relegation in May.